Bad Pets: True Tales of Misbehaving Animals

by Allan Zullo

The animal kingdom has its share of trouble-makers and mischief-makers; scoundrels and stinkers; goofballs and nitwits. This book is a lighthearted collection of true stories involving mammals and birds — both wild and tame — whose antics have ranged from the absurd to the zany. If these creatures were people, many of their shenanigans would have landed them in jail, like the shoplifting seagull, carjacking dog, and clothes-stealing cat. You'll read about such outrageous animals as the dog who "drove" a garbage truck into the river... the deer that sent students scattering after it crashed into their classroom... the potty-mouthed parrot who loved offending people as they walked to church... and the bears that barged into a restaurant and ate all the food left behind by the fleeing customers.

(From Allan Zullo's website)

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Animals, Childrens, Short Stories

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Allan Zullo is an American non-fiction writer. He is the author or co-author of more than eighty paperbacks for adults and children.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Zullo graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1969 with a degree in journalism. His books include The Baseball Hall of Shame and Baseball Confidential (both co-written with Bruce Nash), A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting (co-written with his wife Kathryn), and the Haunted Kids series. Zullo has also written articles for The National Enquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, Ladies Home Journal, and The Palm Beach Post. His syndicated comic strip "The Ghost Story Club" ran in American newspapers from 1995 to 1998.

Zullo currently lives in Fairview, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Mischenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave my son and me so many laughs that I just have to give it 5-stars. I think all animal lovers will enjoy it. There are funny stories ranging from a dorito stealing seagull, to a Newfoundland who drives a garbage truck into a river. Hilarious! It's a great chapter book for kids who are reluctant readers because of its comical aspect. The title is a little misleading because not all these animals are pets; some are just wild animals doing crazy things. It's still a great book.

Highly recommend!

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute and quick read about all kinds of animals getting themselves into all kinds of trouble.

I'd never before heard anything about former President George W. Bush's dog, Barney, biting so many people (visitors and press) at the White House. He really should have been removed from the property instead of being allowed to continue biting people. That was just wrong.

Also, a Doberman guard dog mangled the teddy bear once owned by Elvis Presley.
A collector had paid $75,000 for it and had loaned it out for a museum display of over one million dollars worth of rare teddy bears.

[Gina Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny stories of animals gone wild

[Vicki Schmook · Rating 4 out of 5]

really cute collection of stories

[April Murillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad pets is about bad misbehaving animals such as birds and mammals some wild some calm but these animals are not just animals that destoy thing at home, they shoplift and they carjack other peoples car. If they where humans all the animals in the book would go straight to jail. Evan the potty mouth pairot says bad thing at church and eats costomers food at restourants.

This book is funny and playful I would recomend this book to third to fouth grad kids because it is funny for kids to read and I think they would injoy this book it is also a lighthartding book so I think it would be a good fit for them.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of true tales of animals behaving badly. Some highlights include the Dorito stealing seagull, the parrot who interrupted a soccer game, and the pony who staggered into a pool after eating too many fermented apples.

[Sophia]

so far i think this book is kinda funny because i just can't believe that these are real stories for example i read something about a segul shoplifting!!!!

[Chance Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly what you would expect. It's interesting, Laughable, and enjoyable and has a few good chuckles.

Cover
The cover is clever play on the theme. the only thing I wish is that the subtitle actually looked like it was around the puppies neck.
I think the back cover should have tied more to the theme on the front. Also I find that puppy on the back looks really creepy.

Interior
The layout is decent. The stories divided up among themes is great.
I didn't expect to find two political pooches in this book. I found that really interesting.
One thing I really wish this book didn't do was spoil the stories with playful introductions. Not all the stories revealed the destruction in the animals wake but those that did felt more undeserving removing the shock value of reaching the revealed chaos they're causing.
Some of these stories I've actually heard and seen before which is fitting since all the stories are giving reference points to look more into the stories. Whether they are YouTube videos or news articles.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dumb! I’m usually pretty good about giving a somewhat positive review, but seriously - I saw nothing interesting about these pets.

[Cora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and heart warming 💕

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see the appeal of this for young readers, but the stories get tiresome.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book i liked reading about what things animals can get them selves in too. And one of my favroite story's in this book was how a dog started a fire in a house.

[Chloe]

It was pretty good but the ones where they save the owner is better.

[Ella Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was quite funny.

[Elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is pretty awesome shut up now!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very entertaining, and incredible read. What I like about the book is that the stories are so short. This would be a great read-aloud for children.

[Fallon]

Reading some of the old books I got from book fairs in elementary/middle school. This was pretty cute, I think a lot of kids would like it too

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I was hoping it would be funnier. It was entertaining. Third to fifth graders who like animals should enjoy it.

[Madyson Balcom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a shorter book I think I’ve read some others in this series in the past I did not know that these books are lightly based on real pets.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stories

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the book. funny animall stories in it.

[Nadia Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Bad Pets: True Tales of Misbehaving Animals by Allan Zullo is a funny collection of true tales involving silly situations that mammals and birds get themselves into. The author shows readers how just like humans, animals also have their share of troublemakers. The author provides the reader with many stories such as the dog that steals Doritos from a grocery store, a fox that had a thing for shoes and would steal pairs of shoes that were left outside, and a cat burglar who would steal clothes from the neighbors house.There are many more funny stories that will leave you laughing and in shock.

Response: I must say this is the first time I have come across a book about misbehaving animals. Although the title says it all , I really didn't know what type of stories to expect. I caught myself laughing out loud and trying to imagine the animals causing trouble. I felt that it was excellent that the author provided websites for the reader to view the animals in action. After reading this book I'm thinking twice before getting a pet of my own.

Classroom Connection: I would use this book in a science lesson to introduce the animal kingdom. This book can be used as an ice breaker for students an lead to a discussion about animals and their characteristics. After reading the book, students can research different animals and learn the different survial skills they have to survive.

Text Complexity: This book is a 1130 lexile/GR level T and the Interest level is from grades 3 to 5. This a great read aloud for grades 2-3 and should be read independently by fourth grade.

[Sabrina]

Bad Pets: True Tales of Misbehaving Animals is a collection of stories about both domestic animals (pets) and non-domestic animals that go beyond the reporting of crazily amusing antics to actions, were they perpetrated by a human being, that would result in arrests. In fact, a few of the animal capers resulted in court time and some fines for the animals owners.

There's the husky who shoplifted rawhide a rawhide bone from the Smith's grocery in Murray, Utah and the kleptomaniac cat who lifts gloves, glasses, women's lingerie, or any small item he can carry from the neighbors yard. Or how about the mama fox in Germany who steals hundreds of shoes, some in pairs, some not, if they are left on porches. Or how about the tale of the parrot who was ejected from a soccer game in England?

All of the tales are amusing, but some are laugh-out-loud funny. If found myself reading a few selections aloud to my husband as we both lay in bed last night. (I kept interrupting his reading with a "you've got to listen to this one". Our favorite was the tale of the party animal sea lions in California. You should really read that one just to find out what they did to someone's boat!

The writing in the books wasn't extraordinarily good writing; it was riddled with a few puns that were groaners, and some taglines for stories that were simply far too cheesy. However, the book was a quick entertaining read that is easily enjoyable by kids and adults alike.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middle-grade kids book that my mom got for me from one of the Scholastic book flyers she had in her classroom a few years ago. Started it on a night when I needed a book to read but was really tired and didn't want anything too deep, and this fit the bill perfectly. Zullo puts together a collection of short stories pulled from various news sources all over the world, all focused on animals whose behavior intersected in a negative way with their human observers. Some are mildly amusing, like the parrot who escaped and took up residence in the eaves of a church, spouting foul language at the parishioners who came to worship. Others scary, like the deer who crashed through the window of an elementary school classroom, overturning desks and spraying students with glass as it ran throughout the room. Overall, an enjoyable book, suitable for the age group it is intended, but also a quick and interesting read for parents and animal lovers alike.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Bad Pets Most Wanted in the second book in its series the first is Bad Pets, The third is Bad Pets on the loose, And the forth (last so far)is Bad Pets Save Christmas . The author is Allan Zullo. It is a non fiction story about all different animals that get into mischief somehow. My favorite story is about a cat that every night goes and sneaks into the neighbors house and steals clothes it started out that he stole the little things like socks then he started to steal more expensive things like polo shirts and pants and every night he would bring something home he woke his owner’s up to show them his prize that he stole. In the end the cat was named mischief because he stole three laundry baskets full of clothes.

[Adam L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Allan Zullo is a lot stories about a lot of misbehaving animals, as it sais in the title.

There is a story about a seagull that stole Doritos every day for a couple of weeks.

There is a story about a wolf that stole shoes.

There is a story about a dog that tried to buy book from a library and eventually got a library card of his own.

There is even a story about a parrot that made a soccer keep on stopping because it kept on making the sound of the referee's whistle.

Any body that likes humor about animals will love this book.
It is an amazing comedy about animal thieves, intruders, hijackers and more.

[Carmen Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the first time I have stumbled upon a type of book that talked about bad pets. After reading this book, it makes me think twice about getting a pet myself. In this book, there are numerous pets that are included and talks about the mischievous deeds they have committed. Taking care of pets are costly enough, but add the cost of damage they can make, lots of people can turn to big loans which scares me the most. I wonder how the owners dealt with the costs that their pet's damages have done.

[Malena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book is very funny. I liked reading all the funny things that all the animals did. I also noticed that a lot of animals are mischievous in this book but most of the time ended up getting there way. It was good and funny and caught people attention by the title. I would recommend this book it you if you like funny books that aren't sad. I also, would say that the back of the book are good examples because they are some of the funniest examples.

[Jennifer Lavoie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book for my classroom because it's a fun, quicky, easy read for my students and it is nonfiction. I thought the stories were funny, though some of them I had heard of before, like the Dorito stealing seagull. However, the stories are short and should keep kids attention, even if they are reluctant readers. Many of the stories are new, some are older.

[Brandi Leblanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the cutest books ever if you are an animal lover. I promise you will laugh. It is a book of short stories of animals misbehaving. Some of the stories even have the animals on video, so after you read about the misbehaving pet you can type it in on youtube and watch the video. A must read for all animal lovers.